Topping RD3 TP Balanced DAC Review

[amirm]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Topping "TP" RD3 balanced stereo USB rackmount DAC with Bluetooth. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $229.

The unit sports a gorgeous, white segmented display with highly responsive control. It is a joy to use. A remote control is provided as well. Back panel shows what we expect including the now standard trigger support on Topping products:

Power supply is built-in which is very nice as well.

I prefer this form factor to desktop products as it looks more "serious."

Topping RD3 TP Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard:

This is excellent performance and just a step below state of the art.

RCA output gives up just a bit of performance:

But still fully transparent as evidenced by superb dynamic range:

Linearity is excellent:

As is Jitter over USB:

There is however good bit of jitter over Coax/Toslink:

Fortunately their levels don't reach audibility.

IMD is excellent and just limited by noise:

If we eliminate that and just look at distortion floor, we can see superb performance:

We have our usual set of filters:

Even though attenuation is good we still get a bit of degradation in wideband THD+N vs frequency:

Conclusions
The performance of RD3 can be summed up as one step below perfection. In exchange for that, you get a very high value DAC with gorgeous display and in my opinion, highly usable rackmount form factor. As I noted in the review, I rather put an RD3 in my main system than a desktop DAC.

I am going to recommend the Topping "TP" RD3 balanced DAC.

Specifications​

• Dimensions (W x H x D)
  48.3X15.5X5.2cm
  Bluetooth
  Yes
• D/A Converter
  AK4493S
  Model Number
  RD3
• Material
  Metal
  DSD Sampling Frequencies
  2.8224 MHz (DSD64),5.6448 MHz (DSD128),11.2896 MHz (DSD256),22.5792 MHz (DSD512)
• PCM Word Length
  16-bit,24-bit,32-bit
  PCM Sampling Frequencies
  44.1 kHz,48 kHz,88.2 kHz,96 kHz,176.4 kHz,352.8 kHz,384 kHz,705.6 kHz,768 kHz
• Outputs
  RCA,XLR
  Inputs
  USB Type-B,Optical (SPDIF),Coaxial
• Type
  Desktop
  Brand Name
  TOPPING
• Origin
  Mainland China

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome. Click here if you have some audio gear you want me to test.

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[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

Is there a setting to adjust DPLL? It should help with jitter on toslink.

 

[Adis]

Does it play DSD?

 

[D!sco]

If they were serious about pro use they would have locking XLR connections.

 

[YSDR]

So much unused space on the back of this device. At least one more optical and coax input please! AES/EBU input would be good too.

 

[Michael Fidler]

Boy oh boy does that look good! Would be nice to see an AES/XLR connector on the back and maybe another couple of optical connectors though?

 

[frabor]

More metal , bigger packing and a lot of wasted space. With all the millions of tons of ewaste and packaging manufacturers should not sell empty cases for the feel good look. Yes, it provides the same functionality as a rack tray and a desktop DAC. At least that tray will can be used for decades.

It would be awesome that manufacturers would offer upgraded boards to replace what is inside the units. Even my small d50s has some extra space inside the case..

And congrats to topping on another high performance prodicy

 

[respice finem]

I could think of some companies asking this price for the remote

 

[ceausuc]

smsl d6 is cheaper, prettier and measures the same.

 

[Veri]

Is there a setting to adjust DPLL? It should help with jitter on toslink.

Looks like dual AKM-based DAC and not ESS Sabre. So no.

 

[TonyJZX]

smsl d6 is cheaper, prettier and measures the same.

i'm heavily in the SMSL camp but this is hard to justify

i'd prefer XLR over TRS, the display on the Topping miles better than whatever segment display SMSL stole off a $10 clock radio

I do agree the topping twins are fashion over form... they dont need to be 19" wide... i'd rather they did two 9.5" wide units and gave you the option to stack or side by side

and yeah i think sub $500 usd for both of the toppings is amazing for what you get

let's see if they are durable long term

 

[DSJR]

I like the full width form factor, rack 'ears' and all Unlike a little rinky-dinky box getting lost 'round the back,' this one could fit into my rig really well and not look out of place.

The ASR 'disease' has got me though, as the 'technically' inferior jitter, if totally inaudible to me, lets the otherwise excellent performance down and I hope it can be sorted to make a true all-round-sota model for around this price.

 

[Grotti]

I would like to see additional analog input(s) or ADC. I think most developers nowadays underestimate the number of people who like to listen to vinyl every now and then. There seems to be enough unused space internally and on the back: so why not charge a little more and make it a real Preamplifier?

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

Looks like an AKM based DAC and not ESS Sabre. So no.

Oh was not aware of akm chips being used. Ok then

 

[Matias]

Except Toslink it has excellent performance and looks good too. Very nice from Topping.

 

[gamerpaddy]

If they were serious about pro use they would have locking XLR connections.

the plugs have locks on them, you only have locks on the female part of xlr. unless they miss a notch in those sockets, they should lock in.

 

[Sokel]

It would be a thousand times better with removable ears (like Behringer for example) as it would fit in more environments.
Optical's and SPDIF's jitter is disapointing (for the ones who use them) ,otherwise good performance.

 

[Sokel]

you only have logs on the female part of xlr.

Yep.
And even then quality of the sockets is crucial,the horrible ones that the mechanism is very extruded can easily short outputs if not pay attention plugging it.

@amirm ,in jitter measurement you write USB instead of coax.

 

[CleanSound]

I wonder what market segment this TP line is meant for. They are rack mount, but the RA3 is only 50ish wpc at 8 ohms before the knee, which is no where near enough power for public space applications.

 

[Rja4000]

Thanks
Interesting for the price.

They seem to have measured Jitter, so something must by off.

@JohnYang1997 Comment on this ?

@amirm This is LDAC compatible.
Is a quick LDAC SINAD confirmation doable ?